Force for Change

May 4th is called Star Wars Day.



You get it - May the Fourth be with you.



Oh, never mind.


May 4, 1949 -
The final pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (and their only color film), The Barkleys of Broadway, premiered on this date.



Originally planned to star Fred Astaire and Judy Garland after their success together in Easter Parade, but when Garland's addiction to over-the-counter drugs spiraled out of control, producer Arthur Freed replaced her with Ginger Rogers.


Today in History:
May 4, 1626 -
Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on what is now Manhattan island, where a little settlement had been established on the southern tip by the Dutch East India Company, called New Amsterdam.



While the Indians have been pissed off even since then, there are some in Congress are investigating whether or not they can sell NYC back to the Indians.


May 4 1854 -
Joseph Tussaud returned to London with the well-used blade of the guillotine he purchased from Clement Sanson, the last in a line of Sansons who held the office of Executioner of Paris for over 150 years.

The blade is now part of Tussaud's Wax Museum collection.


May 4, 1886 -
At Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour workday turned into a riot when a bomb exploded. Seven policemen were killed and some 60 others injured. Only one policeman was killed in the strike.



Three labor leaders were executed November 10, 1887, for the bombing. The Haymarket affair is generally considered to have been an important influence on the origin of international May Day observances for workers.


May 4, 1891 -
Noted apiarist and amateur detective, Sherlock Holmes reportedly 'died' during a fight with master criminal (and his one time math tutor) Professor James Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls on this date.



Mr. Holmes re-appears three years later next to discuss his 'disappearance'. It has been speculated that his friend and chronicler, Dr. John H. Watson, attempted to cure Holmes of his life long addiction to cocaine and morphine during this time period.


May 4, 1954 -
An Old Man goes fishing. It was a good day to fish. He catches a fish. It was a big fish. It was a good day for the fish to die. Sharks, big sharks eat the big fish before the old man gets back to shore. The Old Man goes home to his shack and falls asleep. It was a deep sleep. He dreams about lions in Africa. They are big lions.



Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize on this date.



So class, either Santiago is a defeated hero or an undefeated hero. Throw in references to Jesus Christ, Joe DiMaggio, the sin of pride and greed and "A man can be destroyed but not defeated" and you have your Master's Thesis.


May 4, 1970 -
28 Ohio National Guardsmen read protesting students of Kent State the riot act, but the students, as was their wont, did not disperse. So they shot them.



The Guardsmen killed four students and wounded nine others at Kent State University on this date.


May 4, 1973 -
The first time on network TV (if you consider PBS network TV) - Female Nudity - Valerie Perrine appears in the altogether in Bruce Jay Friedman's Steambath.

I can't embed any clip from this production: they has all be moved to porno sites (and I can't embed clips from movies porno sites or the blog will be moved to an 'adult' site.)


May 4, 1991 -
To celebrate his father's birthday the previous day, Bing Crosby's son Dennis Crosby put a shotgun to his head, ending his life in a boarding house in California. A younger brother, Lindsay, had also killed himself with a shotgun two years earlier.



Once again, Bing must have been a lovely person.


May 4, 2001 -
After dinner at Vitello's in Studio City, film and television actor Robert Blake remembers that he left something at the restaurant. When he returns to the car, he discovers his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley Paulakis Gawron Moon Besly Brooksher Webber Telufson Wolfe Ray Blake (yes, she was married to nine other men before Blake) , slumped over in the passenger seat. She had been shot in the head by person or persons unknown. Bakley later died of her injury.



One year later, Blake was charged with the murder. To the astonishment of some, he was later acquitted of the charges. It was actually suggested during the trial, by the defense, that a list of people with possible motives to kill Bonnie Lee would be longer than the Los Angeles Phone Directory. (Bakley's three children filed a civil suit against Blake asserting that he was responsible for their mother's death. On November 18, 2005, the jury found Blake liable for the wrongful death of his wife and ordered him to pay $30 million.)



And so it goes